Head Injuries

The Do-Not Press, 1998

“… a demon Spirit, weaving beautiful nests of tight prose, hatching spectacular nightmares out of love, guilt, remorse and unreliable memory. The flights of his fiction are dazzling and dangerous.”
Graham Joyce

“Williams’ laconic realism manages to wind the tension up page by page… As the novel builds to a bloody climax, reality and fantasy blur into a sickening blend of violence and insanity. Guilt, retribution and atonement are the names of the game here, and Williams handles them with a masterly touch.”
SFX

“I loved it. His portraits of everyday loneliness are brilliant. Altogether I thought it one of the finest and most haunting modern spectral novels I’ve read.”
Ramsey Campbell

“Incendiary stuff… marks Williams out as a writer of rare ­– if warped ­– imagination.”
Time Out

“…beautiful prose in this brooding and mysterious tale… A first class novel.”
Peter Crowther, Interzone

“Lean, compelling prose marks this out as a thriller of real distinction.”
Crime Time

“‘Conrad Williams’ debut novel casts an irresistible spell. [It is] obsessive, menacing and full of bizarre imagery. Along with its narrative surprises, remorseless invention and astonishing emotional range, it offers a host of more traditional fictional pleasures: acute perceptions of character, naturalistic dialogue and some fine evocations of the fears, desires and cruelties of adolescence… An extraordinary novel: subtle, stylish, witty, dark and visionary.”
Andrew Hedgecock, Time Out Net Books

“This is a well-written and tightly-plotted novel. The characters are believable and what happens to them is truly horrifying. Go out and buy a copy… buy two and give one to a friend. There are a small group of authors who, when they publish a new book, I immediately rush out and buy a copy. Conrad Williams has just added himself to this number.”
Kimota

“…excellent and riveting horror thriller.”
James Keen, Horror Novel Reviews